ASPECTS OF THE MORPHOLOGY
OF ATSAM LANGUAGE
RAMONU, TOPE OMOBOLANLE
MATRIC NO: 07/15CB089
A LONG ESSAY SUBMITTED TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIA
LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY
OF ILORIN, KWARA STATE
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR AWARD OF THE DEGREE BACHELOR
OF ARTS (HONS) IN LINGUISTIC
JUNE, 2011.
i
CERTIFICATION
This long essay has been read and approved as meeting the
requirements of the award of Bachelor of Arts Degree of University of Ilorin,
Ilorin.
……………………..….
Project Supervisor
……………………….
Signature and date
……………………...….
………………………..
Head of Department
Prof. A.A Abdulssalam
Signature and date
………………………....
External Examiner
………………………….
Signature and date
ii
DEDICATION
This essay is dedicated to the Almighty God, the sustainer of my soul, the
owner of my life and the essence of my living. He alone deserves all
adoration.
It is dedicated also to my parents Elder and Mrs.A.O Ramonu. You are
the very best parents one can ever dream of having. God bless you.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The journey of many days starts on a day and ends on day. When I started
this journey, it was like it was not going to end. The destination looked far
and the road rough. But, all glory to God who has seen me through. Your
praise shall forever remain on my lips.
My Unreserved gratitude goes to my supervisor Mr. S.A Aje, for his
counsel, unflinching patience and support all of which have made this work
what it is today, God bless you.
To my informant Mr. Sunday Danladi thanks for sparing time to
attend to me.
My appreciation goes to the typist Mr. Mark for taken the pains to
carefully type this work, thank you.
My most sincere appreciation goes to my loving parent Elder and Mrs.
A.O Ramonu for their sponsorship and their constant prayers. I love and
appreciate you. Also appreciate all my siblings Aramide, Oluwafemi,
Oluseyi and Omotola. I love you.
My most sincere appreciation goes to Mr. Adetunji Lateef
Abdulrahman proprietor of Socrates College Ilorin. Thanks for your support,
love and word of encouragement, thanks for being there. I appreciate you so
much.
To all my Lecturers, I say thank you.
Finally, to the wonderful friends I met on Campus Ibidun Alabi, Akogun
Rashidat, Oluseyi Dare, Adedeji Adenike and a host of others to numerous
to mention. Seeing you at the Top.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
i
Certification
ii
Dedication
iii
Acknowledgement
iv
Table of content
v
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
General Background
1
1.2
Historical Background
1
1.3
Geographical Location
2
1.4
Socio-cultural Background
3
1.5
Socio-Linguistic Background
6
1.6
Methodology
7
1.7
Phylo-Genetic Classification
9
1.8 Approaches to Morphological Analysis
12
1.8.1
Scope Of Study
13
1.8.2
Justification
14
1.9 Synopsis of Chapters
14
CHAPTER TWO
2.0
Introduction
16
v
2.1
Consonant Chart
16
2.1.1 Distinctive feature
28
2.1.2 Atsam Vowel Chart
28
2.1.3 Distinctive feature matrix
28
2.2 Tonal system in Atsam language
35
2.3
39
Syllable Structure
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
Introduction
41
3.1
Morphology
41
3.2
Types of Morpheme
41
3.2.1 Free Morphemes
42
3.2.2 Bound Morphemes
43
3.3
44
Function of Morphemes
3.3.1 Inflectional of Morphemes
44
3.3.2 Derivational function of morpheme
45
vi
3.4
Atsam Language typology
45
3.5
Numerals
47
3.6
Principle morphemic Identification
48
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0
Introduction
52
4.1 Prefixation
53
4.1.1 Suffixation
54
4.1.2 Suprafix
54
4.1.3 Compounding
55
4.1.4 Borrowing
56
4.1.5 Clipping
57
4.1.6 Reduplication
57
4.2
59
Word Classes
4.2.1 Noun
59
4.2.2 Pronoun
60
vii
4.2.3 Adjectives
63
4.2.4 Adverb
63
4.2.5 Verb
64
4.2.6 Conjunction
66
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1
Introduction
67
5.2
Summary
67
5.3
Conclusion
68
5.4
Recommendation
69
REFERENCES
72
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Background
This work is on Atsam morphology. Atsam is one of the languages
spoken in Kauru local Government of Kaduna State. Another name for
Atsam language is ‘Chawei’
viii
This chapter will be devoted to the historical and linguistic background,
geographical location, genetic classification, scope of study and synopsis of
chapters.
1.2
Historical Background.
According to oral tradition, Atsam people are ethnic group found in Kaduna
State. They are predominantly found in States like Plateau, Nassarawa and
the Federal Capital Territory. Atsam people originated from Sango Kattaf.
1.3
Geographical Location
Atsam speaking people can be found in Kauru Local Government Area
of Kaduna State. They share boundaries with Plateau, Kaduna Local
Government in the South and Zango Kattaf on the West. Atsam is spoken in
six districts in Kauru L. G. A. they are:
1. Damakasuwa, with its district head at Damakusuwa chawei. This district
covers villages such as Kisari, Mangual and Refingura.
2.
Zambina chawei. It covers villages such as Baduru, and Kurmi, Risga.
3.
Fadan chawei. With its district head at Fadan chawei. This district
covers villages such as Talo and Riban.
ix
4.
Pari with its district head at Kaffin chawei. This district covers villages
such as Kaffin chawei, Pari among others.
5.
Kamaru district with its district head at Kizakoro, with villages like
Kihoba, Kamaru.
6.
Barkin Kogi.
Each district is headed by a district head.
1.4
Socio Cultural profile
1.4.1.1.1
Cultural practice
Culture is the total ways of life of a people in terms of their bliefs, way
of life or art. Culture must be studied directly by studying behavior, customs,
language and so on.
The aspect of Atsam that we shall discuss here covers their
language, festivals, religion, marriage rite, types of food they eat and jobs
they engage in.
TRADITIONAL FESTIVAL
One of the festival in Atsam is “SHAKDODO” Shakdodo is the name of a
man who in account of the bad behaviors of his wives got angry and turned
into a river. Shakdodo is been scarified as dictated by the priests, food and
x
domestic animals such as Goat, Fowl, Guinea – corn are used to make
sacrifice to the river
Women are not allowed to participate in this festival, any woman
found, will be punished by bringing items like Goat, Fowl to appease the
river.
1.4.1.2
MARRIAGE CEREMONY
For a man and woman to get married in Atsam land, few steps are taken.
Firstly, there is an intermediary between the wife and the husband’s family. It
is the duty of the intermediary to make known the intension of both families.
The bride’s family will then decide if they want their daughter to marry the
man. After many consultations, a date is picked, this time; dowry of the
woman (bride) is paid along side with tubers of yam, kolanut, and some yards
of cloth. But if the couple is willing to have a church wedding or a nikkah
program, a separate day will be picked for it.
1.4.1.3
BURIAL CEREMONY
Burial ceremony is being conducted in several ways among the Atsam people
depending on the sex of the dead person. If an old man dies, “SHANGBARI”
xi
a rite, is been performed in honor of the dead person for seven days, on the
40th day, another rite called “PEPIYON” is performed to appease the dead not
to forget his family members, this rites are not done for women.
1.4.1.4
MODE OF ADMINISTRATION
There are six districts in Atsam; each district is headed by a district
head. The head are charged with maintenance of law and order within their
domains. The district heads are supported by a number of village heads
within their domains and below the village head are ward heads popularly
known as the Mai’angwa. The Mai’angwa reports to the village head.
Mai’angwa
1.4.1.5
village head
District head
Chief (Res – Tsam)
OCCUPATION
The major occupation of the Atsam people are farming, Craftmaking,
Beekeeping, but the dominant occupation among the Atsam people is
farming.
1.4.1.6
RELIGION
The dominant religion among the Atsam people is Christianity.
According to the informant, Muslims are not many in Atsam.
xii
1.5
SOCIOLINGUISTIC PROFILE
Atsam language is used as a means of communication in School,
Churches and Market places. Atsam is spoken in Kauru Lacal Government
area of Kaduna State, though it was said that Hausa language has in one way
or the other contributed to the death of many languages spoken in Northern
part of Nigeria. Hausa is used as a medium of instruction in Schools while
English language is learned as the target language. Atsam is a minority
language among the Atsam people while Hausa is a language of wider
communication.
Neighbouring language groups communicate with Atsam language due
to their unique character in terms of accommodating, peace keeping and
friendly act. Atsam speakers are only about 30, 000, is used as a means of
communication within Atsam speakers in market places, during festive
periods.
1.6.1
METHODOLOGY
The following is adopted as methodology for this research work.
1. Data collection
xiii
2. Data Analysis
This research work is made possible through a multilingual informant
Name of informant
–
Mr. Sunday Danladi
Age of informant
-
45 years
Religion of informant -
Christianity
Marital Status
Married
-
Years spent in home town -25 years.
Language spoken apart from Atsam – English language, Hausa
language and Tyap language
Occupation
-
Data analysis
-
Police Officer
Means of data elicitation is through the following
1.
The Ibadan wordlist of for hundred lexical items
2.
Hypothetical frame technique
3.
Structure and unstructured oral interview.
The Ibadan wordlist of lexical items is a list designed to elicit
xiv
similar items in different languages. The wordlist consists of common items
that are common among human society such as parts of human body,
numerals.
The frame technique helped in small measure to determine
the actual contextual usage and forms of word as well as the various
morphological forms in which words can occur.
Oral interview both in structured and unstructured manner has also
been used in eliciting the data. The structured are those questions prepared
ahead of the informant while the unstructured type are those in which the
response from the informant served as source of another information.
Materials used include
 Writing materials
 Recording materials such as recording tape and cassette
1.7
PHYLO – GENETIC CLASSIFICATION
Phylo-genetic
classification
is
one
of
the
major
areas
of
comparative/historical linguistics.
According to Haine and Nurse (2005; 259) Genetic or phylogenetic classification involves putting together related languages into
xv
families or language group that can be presumed to have derived
historically from a common ancestor. GreenBerg (1966.8) reports that
African languages are four main groups namely:
Niger Kordofonia
Afro -
Asitatic
Nilo -
Sahara
Khoison
Atsam language belong to the plateau family of a sub group of Benue –
Congo. The platoid itself is a sub family of Benue congo of the Niger
Kordofonia language family of African language.
xvi
AFRICAN LANGUAGE
Afro-Asiatic
Niger
Nilo
Kordofonia
Saharan
Niger congo
Kru
Kordofonia
Gur
Adamawa
Platoid
Funtsuan
Khoisan
Gong
West
Benue
Atlantic
congo
Yoruboid
Atsam
Kuro
Source – Blench 1992.
xvii
Bamtoid
Tyap
Jjuu
1.8
APPROACHES TO MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
For this research work to achieve a set of goals, the approaches to be
employed are Analytic and synthetic approaches to the morphological
analysis of Atsam language. According to Arnoff and fudeman (2005;12), the
analytic approach to morphological analysis is associated with American
structuralist-linguistics. Main reason for this approach is to guide a researcher
in it’s research work because he is not familiar with the work.
Some words are mono - morphemic words, some have more than one
morpheme breaking down of these words into their component morphs is
what analytic approach is all about.
The following word serves as examples in Atsam language
[ra] ‘House’ [ara] ‘houses’
[rogo] ‘Cassava’ [arogo] ‘Cassavas’
[Naskun] ‘yam’ [anaskun] ‘yams’
From the following examples we can say “a” represents the plural tense
maker.
xviii
Second approach is the synthetic approach. It assumes that the linguist
has some idea of the research work. Then, what is left behind is how to put
some words together. For example:
1.8.1
1. Ìnká +
mù
Ìnkámù
Mother
my
my mother
2. Nú k +
anin
aninnúk
Pot
water
water pot
SCOPE OF STUDY
This work aims at describing aspects of the morphology of Atsam language.
The description would use the morpheme as the unit of analyzing the
internal structure of words in the language. It’s morphological process will
be discussed.
In the this work, the discussion will be restricted to only the
Morphological aspect of
Atsam and the focus of the study is Atsam
language spoken in Kaduna, Kaduna State.
1.8.2
JUSTIFICATION
xix
The study of Atsam language is very important because, to the best of
my knowledge, no work of this type has been done on this language. This
work will therefore help this language by not going into extinction and
providing an autography for it. It will also promote future work and serve as
source of reference for future work.
1.9
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS
This research work is organized into five chapters.
Chapter one consists of the historical background of Atsam, the
sociolinguistic profile, socio cultural profile, geographical location, genetic
classification of Atsam, scope of study, justification for the study and the
synopsis of chapters.
Chapter two centers on the phonological aspects of Atsam language.
Chapter three is on morphological processes present in the language,
type of morphemes, aspects of morphology and structural position of
Morphemes.
Chapter four would examine the syntactic classification of words in the
language while, chapter five summarizes and concludes the project.
xx
CHAPTER TWO
The phonology of Atsam language.
2.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the phonology of Atsam language that is, Atsam
vowel and consonants, and examines their matrix distinctive features. The
xxi
total system and the syllable structure attested in the language are also
examined.
The perimeter used in describing consonants are:
1.
Place of articulation
2.
Manner of articulation
3.
State of glottis (voice or voiceless)
2.1
CONSONANT CHART
Atsam has twenty seven consonants and these consonants are shown in
a consonant chart. The distribution of the consonants are given below...
Bilabial
Stops
Nasals
Fricative
p
Labio
b
Alveolar
Dental
t
m
d
v
s
ts
Lateral
l
Trill
Approxi-
r
Labialized
velar
w w
k
g
Palatalized Glottal
velar
j
k
ŋ
z
Affricate
Labio
velar
k g kp gb
n
f
Palato Palatal velar
Alveolar
∫
h
ʧ ʤ
j
w
xxii
mant
Stops/plosives: These are sounds produces with a total obstruction of
air in the vocal tract.
a. /b/
Voiced bilabial stop at word initial. Examples are:
/bechi/ “hair”
/barad/ “skin”
/bàrkonu/ “pepper”
1.
Word medial position
/yàbà/ “banana”
/yénibú/ “mud”
Word final position
/sanáb/ “ask”
/p/
voiceless bilabial stop at word initial position
/pì/ “belly”
/ponk/ “room”
/paak/ “knife”
xxiii
at word – medial position
/yepang/ “witch”
w
/g apyan/ “spear”
at word – final position
/yap/ “say”
/vop/ “sell”
/d/ voiced alveolar stop word initial position
/dòdó/ “fetish”
/dòwà/ “hold”
/dàm/ “hold”
at word – final position
/anàfid/ “buttock”
/barad/ “skin”
/t/
voiceless alveolar stop at initial position
/taklími/ “shoe”
/tabáa/ “tobacco”
/ton/ “ear”
at word – medial position
/fátú/ “break”
xxiv
/màtami/ “show”
at word – final position
/chìkot/ “egg”
/yeít/ “wine”
/páat/ “matchet”
/g/
voiced velar stop at word initial position
/ górò/ “kolanut”
/gàdà/ “groundnut”
/gweri/ “jump”
at word – medial position
/pàgì/ “grind”
/nízìgin/ “carve”
/wóqùr/ “left”
at word – final position
/táng/ “stone”
/iyang/ “stick”
/wang/ “swallow”
/k/
voiceless velar stop at word initial position
/kúp/ “bone”
xxv
/kì/ “grass”
/kún/ “tree”
at a word – medial position
/kúkùru/ “tortoise”
/pérkí/ “hot”
/yékù/ “town”
at a word – final position
/máràk/ “remember”
/kwuk/ “go”
/yúnk/ “mosquito”
/gb/
voiced labio – velar stop at word initial position
/gbayìn/ “roast”
at a word – medial position
/digbar/ “hard”
/ingbanrigba/ “rope”
/kp/
voiceless labio - velar stop at word medial position
/jekpi/ “belly”
/gw/
voiceless labialized velar stop word initial position
/gwap/ “bow”
xxvi
/gwèrì/ “jump”
/gwanzi/ “crab”
/kw/
voiceless labialized velar stop
/k ánk/ “bat”
/k ùk/ “go”
/k arangata/ “house”
Nasal
/m/
voiced bilabial Nasal at word initial position
/muzi/ “seed”
/máràk/ “think”
/mutárag/ “door”
at word – final position
/sóm/ “run”
/tám/ “tongue”
/lám/ “tongues”
/n/
voiced velar Nasal at word initial position
/Nám/ “meat”
/Nìm/ “water”
/Nák/ “hundred”
xxvii
at word – medial position
/táng/ “stone”
/wúnd/ “goat”
/tanrin/ “food”
at word – final position
/kón/ “war”
/kun/ “tree”
/pàn/ “stick”
/ŋ/
velar Nasal fricative at word final position
/taŋ/ “stone”
/sisaŋ/ “stand”
/jepaŋ/ “witch”
Fricatives
/f/
voiceless labio – dental at initial position
/fòin/ “sweet”
/fìtìrì/ “turn around”
/fùnzak/ “untie”
at word medial position
/ànáfìd/ “buttocks”
xxviii
/V/
voiced labio – dental fricative at word initial position
/vob/ “lie”
/viyin/ “beat”
/vaam/ “black”
/S/
voiceless alveolar fricative at word initial position
/sóm/ “beard”
/sang/ “basket”
/sísang/ “sand”
at word – medial position
/súso/ “female”
/mùsyék/ “swell”
/sísanj/ “sand”
at word – final position
/vás/ “rotten”
/pós/ “vomit”
/h/
voiceless glottal fricative
/huu/ “woman”
/z/
voiced alveolar fricative at word initial position
/zuchia/ “heart”
xxix
/zin/ “soup”
/zom/ “fat”
Word medial position
/tarzizi/ “cloth”
/wùzì/ “fall”
Africates
/t s/
voiced palato – alveolar affricate
/t sùsi/ “sheep”
/t sià/ “chia”
/t skók/ “egg”
/d 3/ voiced palato – alveolar affricate at word initial position
/d3u:/ “steal”
at word medial position
/id3E/ “penis”
Approximants
/w/ voiced bilabial approximant at word initial position
/weí/ “sun”
/wang/ “crocodile”
/wúríyík/ “snow”
xxx
at word – medial position
/wuwar/ “snail”
/tówà/ “throw”
/atuwon/ “five”
/l/
voiced alveolar lateral at word initial position
/Làm/ “tongue”
/lemú/ “orange”
at word – medial position
/taklìmì/ “shoe”
/j/
voiced palatal approximant initial position
/juu/ “steal”
flap
/r/- at word Initial position
/rógò/ “cassava”
/rà/ “house”
/rirek/ “story/
at word – medial position
/járkí/ “donkey”
/báráká/ “hawk”
xxxi
/year/ “husband”
at word – final position
/bár/ “hunter”
/sar/ “great”
/kór/ “chocker”
2.1.1 Distinctive feature matrix for consonant in Atsam
Table below shows the value of 26 consonants, the features used are
consonant, syllabic, sonorant, coronal, anterior, Nasality, continuant, lateral
and approximant.
Features
Cons
Son
Cor
Ant
Nasal
Voice
Cont
Lateral
Approxi-
p
+
+
-
b
+
+
+
-
t
+
+
+
-
d k
+ +
- + + - + - - -
g
+
+
-
w
w
kp gb k
+ + +
- - +
- - - - - - - + - - - - -
g
+
+
+
+
-
f
+
+
+
-
v
+
+
+
+
-
s
+
+
+
+
-
xxxii
z
+
+
+
+
-
∫
+
+
-
ts
+
-
ʧ
+
-
ʤ
+
+
+
-
m
+
+
-
n
+
+
+
+
+
-
L
+
+
+
+
w r j
- + ++ +
- - - - - - + ++
+ + +
- - -
ŋ
+
+
+
+
-
mant
- - - -
- -
-
- -
-
- -
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
- + - + -
2.1.2 Atsam VOWEL CHART
Vowels can be described as sounds produced with very little
obstruction to the air in the vocal tract. The Atsam language has seven oral
and four Nasal vowels
front
central
back
High
i
u
Mid – high
e
o
ɔ
E
Midlow
a
The Atsam Nasal vowel chart
Front
Unrounded
ĩ
xxxiii
ũ
Back unrounded
ɔ
a
Distribution of seven oral vowels in Atsam are used in the following words:
/’l/
high front unrounded vowels occurs at word initial position
/ije/ “pennis”
/ìyaŋ/ “lick”
at word – medial position
/foìn/ “sweet”
/pázìm/ “new”
at word final position
/pi/ “belly”
/taklimı/ “shoe”
/u/
high back rounded vowels at word medial position
xxxiv
/rún/ “knee”
/bub/ “oil”
Final position
/púrù/ “mat”
/yémbù/ “mud”
/e/
mid – high front rounded vowels at word medial position
/bechi/ “hair”
/yechìe/ “bush”
/o/
mid – high front rounded vowel at word medial position
/moní/ “sleep”
/dòdó/ “fetish”
at word final position
/rógò/ “cassava”
/gó rò/ “kolanut”
/E/
mid – high front unrounded vowel at word medial position
xxxv
/jEra/ “husband”
/yEpi/ “stomach”
at word final position
/j E / “take”
/pazuwE/ “sunshine”
/c/
mid – low back rounded vowels at word medial position
/scd/ “build”
/tcnk/ “horn”
at word final position
/suc/ “rat”
/súsç/ “female”
/a/
low – back unrounded vowel
/akú/ “die”
/aman/ “money”
xxxvi
at word – medial position
/pàn/ “stick”
/vàp/ “lizard”
at word final position
/chia/ “work”
/bàrà/ “iron metal”
Distribution of Nasal vowels in Atsam language
/ĩ/ high - front unrounded nasal vowel at initial position
/ ĩkara/ “hear”
/ ĩwút/ “forget”
at word - final position
/zĩ/ “soup”
/kĩjĩ/ “grow”
/ũ/ - high back rounded nasal vowels at word medial position
/f ũzak/ “untie”
xxxvii
/qũi/ “stick”
/ɔ/ - mid – low back rounded nasal at word medial position
/timpɔk/ “wall”
/ã/ - low back unrounded nasal at word medial position
/sãg/ “basket”
/sisãg/ “sand”
2.1.3 Distinctive feature matrix for Atsam vowels.
To distinguish the vowels in Atsam language Chomsky and Halle’s
(1968) system of distinctive features will be used. The selected features
are High, Back, Low, Round, ATR, and Nasa
xxxviii
I
u
E
e
o
c
a
ĩ
ũ
ɔ
ã
High
+
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
-
Low
-
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
-
-
+
Back
-
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
-
-
+
-
Round -
+
+
ATR
+
+
-
+
+
Nasal
-
-
-
-
-
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+
+
-
-
-
+
Distinctive features matrix for Atsam vowels
2.2
Tonal system in Atsam language.
Atsam has three tone patterns
High tone [/]
Mid
[-]
Low
[\]
Note – mid tone is not marked in Atsam language are as follows:
a.
The High tone [/]
xxxix
/tám/ “shin”
/lám/”tongue”
/wún/ “Nose”
/yis/ “eye”
b.
The low tone [\]
/yàbà/ “plantain”
/gàdà/ “groundnut”
/pàgà/ “grind”
/tarzìzì/ “cloth”
c.
The mid tone [-] (not usually marked)
/chi/ “head”
/wor/ ‘hand”
/mar/ “back”
/bub/ “oil”
We can easily deduce that tone performs two major functions: Lexical
function, here we regard tone as a member of the word formation segment.
Atsam
Lam - “tongue”
xl
Tón
“ear”
Tún
“mouth”
Atsam also exhibits open ended syllable structure in which the syllable
end in vowels and the following syllable are attested in Atsam language.
1.
CV
syllable type
2.
CVC
syllable type
3.
CVCV
syllable type
4.
CVC
syllable
Example of consonant vowel [cv]
Atsam
Syllable structure
Gloss
pì
cv
“belly”
kì
cv
“grass”
ra
cv
“house”
zi
cv
“put on”
Consonant vowel consonant [cvc]
Atsam
YíS
Syllable structure
Gloss
“eye”
cvc
xli
wún
cvc
“Noise”
tón
cvc
“ear”
lám
cvc
“tongue”
Consonant vowel consonant vowel [cvcv]
Atsam
Syllable structure
Gloss
zàsì
cvcv
“thatch”
súsó
cvcv
“female”
bèrà
cvcv
“doctor”
pèrì
cvcv
“bud
i.e tone will differentiate between two segment e.g /chi/ “head”
/chì/ “fish”
/zom/ “body”
While the grammatical function here, change in tone would give different in
meaning.
2.3
SYLLABLE STRUCTURE
xlii
Speech sounds are combined to make up words and these sounds are broken
into smaller components referred to as syllable. Syllable structure allows a
graphic means of defining what it is to be a vowel since there is essentially an
identity between something being a vowel and it’s being the nucleus of a
syllable. The syllable not only regulates the combination of the segment but
also controls the combination of features which makes up segments.
Jakobson and Halle (1995) divided the syllable into:
a.
Onset
b.
Peak
c.
Coda
Atsam exhibits both the closed ended syllable structure and also the open
syllable structure. The closed ended syllable structure occurs when the final
syllable ends in consonant which is mostly nasal consonant. For example
consonant vowel [cvv]
Atsam
Syllable structure
Gloss
pàa
cvv
“salt”
ràa
cvv
“river”
réé
cvv
“rain”
xliii
taa
“shoot”
cvv
CHAPTER THREE
3.0
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the morphology of Atsam language,
morphemes, types of morphemes, functions of morphemes are also
discussed
3.1
Morphology
Morphology is defined as the study of morphemes and their arrangements in
the formation of words
3.2
Types of morpheme
There are two types of morphemes namely
1.
Free morpheme
2.
Bound morpheme.
xliv
3.2.1 Free morpheme.
Free morpheme can be referred to as a morpheme that can
constitute a word on its own. Also, words that can stand alone and be
meaningful are regarded to as a free morpheme. To illustrate what a free
morpheme is, the following words can be considered in Atsam language
NOTE: - A
/wún/
‘Nose’
/rìyín/
‘earth’
/ná/
‘cow’
/jàrkí/
‘donkey’
/pós/
‘vomit’
/sitsìt/
‘walk’
/ìyanŋ/
‘lick’
/vob/
‘lie’
free morpheme can stand and function on its own.
3.2.2 Bound morphemexlv
Bound morphemes do not exist alone but can only be recognized when
they are joined to other morphemes i.e free morpheme. Bound morphemes
are attached to free morphemes before they can stand as meaningful units.
Though they can be recognized when they are join to other morphemes.
Atsam
gloss
Atsam
gloss
/she/
‘take’
/she-zím/
taking
/hwo/
‘carry’
/hwo-zím/
carrying
/som/
‘Run’
/somzinzím/
running
/Yei/
‘cry’
/yei-zím/
crying
The bound morpheme (-zím) in Atsam is in suffix position. Suffixes do
not change the syntactic class of morpheme but adds more information by
supplying extra elements or words.
3.3 Function of morphemes:Morphemes performs two functions basically
a.
Inflectional function
b.
Derivational function
3.3.1 Inflectional function:
xlvi
Morphemes, which performs an inflectional function only provide
syntactic information without changing the class of words.
An example of inflectional morpheme tense and plural marker will be
given below.
Atsam
Gloss
Atsam
Gloss
/rógò/
‘cassava’
/arógó/
‘cassavas’
/yanrkín/
‘food’
/ayánѓіn/
‘foods’
/Nuk/
‘pot’
/anuk/
‘pots’
/kún/
‘tree’
/akún/
‘trees’
NOTE: in Atsam, /a/ is a bound morpheme that signifies plurality. When
added to a free morpheme it does not change the word class but, gives the
syntactic information of being more than one.
3.3.2.
Derivational function of morpheme.
Morphemes performing derivational functions usually change the
syntactic class of lexical item to which they are attached, and will add further
of meanings, thereby turning a verb into a noun.
Examples of morpheme performing derivational function in Atsam
language.
Atsam
‘Gloss
/Atsam/
xlvii
‘Gloss’
/sóm/
‘runs
/n+sóm/
‘runner’
/Shámé/
‘buy
/n+shámé/
‘buyer’
/Gwèrì/
‘jump
/n+gwèrì/
‘jumper’
/Fártak/
‘wash
/n+fártak/
‘washer’
An example of a morpheme performing a derivational function is the
prefix /n/ in Atsam language, which changes the class of verb to noun.
3.4
The Atsam language typology.
The type of morphology that a language attests to is used in
classifying it into structural types, this, we have morphological typologies
which are, isolating, inflectional and agglutinating. But, Atsam is both an
isolating language and agglutinating language although, our focus is on
isolating/analytical language to whom Atsam belongs.
Atsam language is an isolating language. It shows grammatical
relationship through the use of word order and it code a unit of meaning per
word. The following are sentences from Atsam language, showing that the
language is an isolating language.
Atsam.
vu chia
ne
Gloss.
The work he
benje
jo
did
was forgotten
xlviii
lwobeni
Atsam.
Aliu vijo makaranta
mu
Gloss.
Aliu goes to school
every day
Atsam.
Danladi
vune na
saí
jigiri
Gloss.
Danladi
waited for
the
rain
Atsam.
Abdullahi vugoja
nrak
Gloss.
Abdullahi traveled
yesterday
inka amaa
taza
vom po
came
gave me the
Atsam.
Saì
Gloss.
The woman who
je
saì
mota
car.
In these examples above each word is approximately a morpheme one that is,
a unit or morpheme has one meaning
3.5
Numerals
/índòng/
‘one’
/ábáa/
‘two’
/atáak/
three
/anasì/
‘four’
/atuwon/
‘five’
xlix
/aʧirim/
‘six’
/atariba/
‘seven’
/awuru/
‘eight’
/∫àdɔ/
‘nine’
/kúrú/
‘ten’
3.6 The principles of morpheme identification.
The morpheme has been defined as the smallest unit of speech that has
semantic or grammatical meaning.
To identify morpheme we need to recognize the following principles:Principle1.
Forms, which have a common semantic distinctiveness but differ in
phonemic form, may constitute a morpheme provided their distribution is
phonologically definable.
Consider the following words in Atsam;
/agon+pàa/
/agopàa/
This salt
this salt
/ago+bàrkonu/
/agobàrkonu/
l
This pepper
this pepper
/ago+púrù/
/agopúrù/
This basket
this basket
/ago+ná/
This cow
/agoná/
this cow
From these examples, we can observe that sound /n/ of the demonstrative
pronoun /agon/ meaning “this” is deleted in every environment of occurrence
and this is a variation between morpheme /agon~ago/. Law of phonological
conditioning can account for this.
Principle 2
Forms which have a common semantic distinctiveness but differ in
phonemic form such that their distribution cannot be defined Constitute
single morpheme. If the forms are in complementary distribution, that is
where one occurs, the other cannot. In Atsam /¸ago/¸/ge/ are allomorphs of
the same morphemes, although, their phonemic forms differ. The allormophs
mark the plural of some nouns in Atsam.
The suffix /-a/ occurs with countable nouns and where one occurs the other
cannot as seen in the following examples….
/ayanrìn+a/
/ayanrìna/
li
Food +pl suffix
‘foods’
/rógò+a/
/rógòa/
Cassava+pl suffix
‘cassavas’
/rik+a/
/rika/
Rope+pl suffix
‘rope’
/dóyà+a/
/dóyàa/
Yam+pl suffix
‘yams’
The suffix /-ge/ occurs with uncountable Nouns as in the following
/Ním+ge/
/Nímge/
Water+pl suffix
‘plenty water’
/bub+ge/
/bubge/
Oil+pl suffix
‘plenty oil’
/yík+ge/
/yíkge/
Boold+pl suffix
‘plenty blood’
Principle3
Homophonous forms linguistic forms which sound alike are
identifiable as the same or different on the basis of the following conditions
1.
Homophonous form with distinctly different meanings constitute
morpheme.
lii
2.
Homophonous forms that has related meaning constitutes a single
morpheme. If the meaning classes are not parallel by distributional
differences according to the first condition. If two forms sounds a like
but have different morphemes.
In conclusion, example of Atsam language where homophones
forms with related meanings constitute a single morpheme.
Zóm
‘fat’
Zóm
‘body’
Chì
‘head’
Chì
‘fish’
CHAPTER FOUR
Morphological process in Atsam language
4.0 Introduction
liii
The term ‘morphological processes’ refers to the way morphemes
combine to form new words i.e how new words are derived in a language.
Atsam word formation processes will therefore be the focus of this chapter.
The morphological processes attested in Atsam and also the word classes.
Will be discussed and illustrated with Atsam examples
Affixes may in certain ways
1.
Prefix
2.
Suffix
3.
Suprafix
Affixes appear as sub parts of another morpheme usually the free morpheme.
Such morphemes may be added before (prefix) within (infix) or after
(suffix).
4.1
Prefixation.
This is a morphological process in which a morpheme is added to a root
morpheme at its initial position. Examples in Atsam language are
1.
/rógò/ ‘cassava’ /a+rógò/
/arògò/ ‘cassavas’
2.
/yánrí/ ‘food’
/ayánrí / ‘foods’
/a+ yánrí/
liv
3.
/nuk/ “pot” /a+nuk/
/anuk/ “pots”
4.
/Naskun/ “yam” /a+naskun/
5.
/ra/ “house” /a+ra/
/anaskin/ “yams”
ara/ “houses”
In the above examples, it can be observed that when the prefix /a/ is added to
root morpheme, plural form is derived. Hence, /a/ is a plural maker in Atsam
language.
4.1.2.1 Suffixation
This is a morphological process by which a morpheme is added to a root
morpheme at the end of the word to form another word. Through suffixation,
new words can be derived. Examples in Atsam language.
1.
/hwo/ “carry” /hwo+zim/
/hwozim/ “carrying”
2.
/som/ “run” /som+zim/
3.
/fatsak/ “wash” /fatsak+zim/
4.
/yei/ “cry” /yei+zim/
somzim/ “running”
/fatsakzim/ “washing”
/yeitzim/ “crying”
In the above examples, the suffix /zim/ can be added to the verb root to give
their progressive form.
lv
4.1.2 Suprafix
Suprafix is another type of affix. Tone, stress, pitch, and syllable. They can
be referred to as suprasegmental or prosodic features. Atsam is a tone
language and as such performs both lexical and grammatical functions in the
language.
Singular
Plural
rógò
arógò
nuk
anuk
Gloss
cassava (s)
pot (s)
In these examples, the plural form is derived by the addition of the plural
suffix.
Some other morphological processes Atsam are:
4.1.3 Compounding
Compounding is a morphological process, which involves a collocation
or combination of two or more free morphemes to get basic morpheme or
basic meaning. Tomori (1977)
In Atsam, two or more morphemes of any word class can be compounded
to form a new word as in the following example:
lvi
1.
/bòrò+wok/
bag
2.
hand
/ainnuk/
Pot water
“waterpot”
People village
/nuk + yánrín/
Pot
4.
food
/tsan + súsol/
Child girl
4.1.4
“handbag”
/nuk+anin/
/asei + kut/
3.
/bòròwok/
/aseikut/
“villagers”
/nukyánrín/
“cooking pot”
/tsansúsol/
“femalechild”
Borrowing
Borrowed words are words, which originate from another language or dialect,
while borrowing is the process where by words are taken from one language
and incorporated into another. Examples of these can be seen below:
Atsam
Makaranta
Gloss
Hausa
“school”
makaranta
Gloss
“school”
Taklimi
“shoe”
taklimi
“shoe”
Rógò
“cassava”
rógò
“cassava”
górò
“kolanut”
górò
“kolanut”
lvii
Tabur
“table”
tabur
“table”
Borrowing is seen as a highly morphological process by means of which
lexical items and other linguistic expression from lending sources gain
entrance into the borrowing languages.
4.1.5
CLIPPING
This is a process of reducing or shortening a word into its short form.
Abubakar
“Abu”
Abdullahi
“Abdul”
4.1.6
Reduplication
Mathews (1997) defines reduplication as a morphological process by which
all or part of a form is repeated.
Reduplication can occur in two ways which are: Partial and total
TOTAL reduplication is the most common in Atsam language. In Atsam, a
man can be reduplicated total to derive another Noun as In the following
example:
1.
/ìnká/ “mother” /ìnká + ìnká/
ìnkáìnká
2.
/ ìnbá/ “father”
ìnbáìnbá
“grandmother”
/ ìnbá+ìnbá/
“grandfather”
lviii
3.
/tsan/ “child”
/tsan+tsantaworon/
tsantsantaworon
grandchild
also, adjective can be reduplicated totally to derive an adverb as in the
following example:
1.
/kòchì/ “quick”
kòchìkòchì
2.
/kòchì + kòchì/
quickly
/kàshìyang/ “slow”
Kàshìyangkàshìyang
3.
/ kàshìyang +kàshìyang/
“slowly”
/gìnáriyán/ “rough”
gìnáriyán + gìnáriyán
gìnáriyángìnáriyán
“roughly”
4.2 WORD CLASSES
A language is made up of syntactic classes of words, that is word that
behaves of similar way in the sentence of a language (Awobuluyi 1978) such
word classes are traditionally referred to as parts of speech or lexical
categories.
lix
The grouping of words into classes is the effort made by the Greek
grammarians to explain language. The traditional grammarian thus, identified
eight classes. These eight classes of words are known as parts of speech and
they are Nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, preposition,
conjunction and interjection.
4.2.1 Nouns
A noun is any word functioning as the subject of a verb or the object of a
preposition in grammatical sentences within a given language. There are
certain functions performed by a noun which are the subject of a sentence i.e
when it performs an action. But in Atsam language, nouns performs both
grammatical and lexical functions in the language making use of both the
singular and plural nouns which will be exemplified as follows
Singular noun
Gloss
Plural noun
Gloss
1.
Rik
rope
arik
rope(s)
2.
Púrù
mat
apúrù
mat(s)
3.
Ponk
room
aponk
room(s)
4.
Rà
house
arà
house(s)
5.
Rógò
cassava
arógò
cassava(s)
lx
There are still some other types of nouns like proper noun and common
noun.
4.2.2
PRONOUN
Pronouns are words often used instead of a noun. The main function of
pronoun is to substitute for a noun especially when the noun has already been
mentioned. Many pronouns have certain morphological characteristics that
nouns do not have. For example:
a.
Case contrast for subjective/objective case.
b.
Person distinction e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd. person
c.
Over gender contains e.g. masculine, feminine, and neuter in the
3rd person.
d.
Morphologically unrated forms e.g. you (singular) and you
(plural)
lxi
Below is a tabular representation of Atsam pronouns.
Personal pronouns: subject & possession
Singular
First person
Second person
Third person
Plural
First person
Second person
You
Third person
Subject
mi’
‘me’
Gok
‘you’
Geh
He/she/it
Subject
dùmat
us
Gok
Object
ni
‘i’
Gok
‘you’
Geh
He/she/it
Object
wùt
we
Gok
you
Gen
them
à
they
lxii
Possessive
ińnán
‘mine’
númúm
‘yours’
nímíye
his/her/his
Possessive
nmùat
ours
nùrnum
your
nímen
theirs
All the various forms for pronouns are included above, we see pronoun as
subjects and objects which are linked with morpheme both lexically and
grammatically.
4.2.3 ADJECTIVES
An “adjective modifies, describes or limit a noun or pronoun” smith
(1965:78) it gives more information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence.
Examples of adjectives in Atsam are:
Atsam
Gloss
kenim
“white”
vàan
“black”
shen
“red”
inván
“big”
tsanmim
“small”
4.2.4 Adverbs
An adverb modifies a verb in a sentence. Adverbs are classified according to
the type of information they perform in a sentence.
lxiii
In Atsam the following adverbs are identified:
Adverb of time
These are verbs that indicate the time or period of an action or event.
Examples of these are:
Atsam
Gloss
/ńrek/
“yesterday”
/ńwei/
“year”
/tuk/
“night”
/tabantsan/
“morning”
Adverb of place
/ríyín/
“down”
/nyín/
“around”
/kèséé/
“down
4.2.5 Verb
Verbs are words that can function as a predicator in a grammatical
sentence; the verb is the head of the verb phrase and it can stand in isolate.
Verbs are either transitive or intransitive. Examples of verbs in Atsam
Atsam
Gloss
lxiv
“drink”
/shú/
/gwèrì/
“jump”
/sóm/
“run”
/bást/
“urinate”
Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs are verbs which always require objects to complete its
meaning. They are verbs which given other objects. Examples in Atam
language are:1.
S
V
O
Abdul
òre
yánrín
Abdul
ate
food
‘Adbul
ate
2.
S
the
food
V
O
Geh
otset
difi
He
close
door
‘He
close
the
S
V
O
Danladi
òre
rogo
lxv
door
Danladi
ate
‘Danladi
ate
cassava
cassava’
the
4.2.6 Conjunction
Conjunctions are joining words. They link words together.
Atsam
Gloss
/ní/
‘and’
/ní/
‘with’
Finally, all that are mentioned above are of morphological relevance to
the language of study ‘Atsam’.
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives the summary and conclusion of the research work in
Atsam language.
lxvi
5.2
SUMMARY.
In this work attempt has been made to study aspects of Atsam
morphology. The work comprises of five chapters. The method of data
collection was used in collecting data from an informant who is a native
speaker of Atsam and also a multilingual. The data was gotten with the aid
of the Ibadan 400 word-list which was to keep record of data collected. Also,
a tape record was used to record the words in the language.
The phonological aspects of the language was also considered though
the major focus of this project is the morphology in Atsam.
Furthermore, in the research process, I realized that Atsam language is
both an agglutinating and isolating language under its typology. The
morphological processes attested in the language were discussed leading to
the word classes which had morphological significance in Atsam language
was discussed, making clear that Atsam makes use of singular and plural
nouns.
Another observation made in the data collection is that Atsam language
makes use of open and closed syllable system.
lxvii
Finally, the language borrow words from Hausa language which Atsam
use completely or partially. The way these words are used in the language.
5.3
CONCLUSION
Based on this research, it was discovered that Atsam is a member of
Benue congo family. The language is spoken in some communities like
Pari,Riban, Kurmi. This work can be said to be the first academic work to be
said carried out on Atsam language. It is also the first literature work done
on morphology in Atsam language. This work cannot be said to have
perfectly illustrated everything on Atsam language, but it has been able to
elevate it to a certain high level.
Finally, other aspects such as the morpho-Phonology, morpho-Syntax,
applied linguistic and sociolinguistic of the language have not be
worked no.
5.4. RECOMMENDATION
In the course of this research work, the researcher was able to make the
following recommendations.
lxviii
5.4.1. Parents should be given a re-orientation on the need to speak and
teach their children their native languages so that they can get established in
it especially while learning an L-2 either at school or at their environment.
More efforts, therefore, should be made by parents to consistently teach their
children their mother tongue.
5.4.2.
Text book writers should make adequate research work on Atsam
language so as to make on Atsam language so as to make materials such as
dictionaries and readers available to students. Teachers and researchers to
learn more about the language.
5.4.3.
Students should learn to appreciate their culture and to develop
good listening and speaking habits in order to bring unity and progress to the
Atsam people. This will also help to promote their culture.
5.4.4.
Government should make mother tongue (M T) teachers
compulsory and available in school . Also, a credit pass in these mother
tongue subjects should be made compulsory for going into a higher class.
This would give students solid foundations in the knowledge of their mother
tongue
lxix
5.4.5. Workshops and seminars should be organized for teachers of Atsam
language so that they will have an update findings in the language.
5.4.6.1
Materials should be made available and cheap for the public so as
to help enhance the language. Also, funds should be made available to
researchers so that more work could be done on the language.
This research work will go a long way to aid for future attempts on writing
orthography for the language, or doing any linguistic work on the language.
lxx
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University press.
Chomsky, N. and M. Halle. (1968). The sound patterns of English.
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Durand, I. (1990). Generative and linear phonology. Syngapore:
Longman publishers Ltd.
Greeberg, S. H. (1996). Languages of Africa The Hague: Mouton
and company
Oyebade, F. (1998). A course in phonology Ilorin Nigeria:
University of Ilorin press.
Pike, K. L. C. (1948). Tone Languages of Africa: Mouton and
Company
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